The present invention relates generally to the field of electronics and, in particular, to electronic circuit cards.
Electronic circuit cards are frequently deployed in housings at central offices, remote units, such as digital loop carriers, or the like of telecommunication systems. Many electronic circuit cards include a faceplate that is attached to a circuit board of the electronic circuit card. The faceplate typically serves to identify functions of any ports, LEDs, switches, or displays of the circuit board. In addition, many faceplates protect against electromagnetic interference (EMI).
Usually a number of electronic circuit cards are inserted into slots within a housing so that each of the circuit cards occupies substantially each of the slots. Typically, the electronic circuit cards are connected to a backplane within the housing. Electronic circuit cards often emit EMI that can adversely affect the performance of other electronics, such as electronics of a central office. Consequently, to shield against radiation of EMI (or EMI leakage) from the housing, adjacent sides of faceplates of electronic circuit cards located in adjacent slots make contact (hereinafter to be referred to as panel-to-panel contact), e.g., via EMI gaskets deployed on one or more of the adjacent sides.
Some of these electronic circuit cards connect to customer premises equipment for providing digital subscriber loop (DSL) services, e.g., high-bit-rate DSL (HDSL), asymmetric DSL (ADSL), very high-bit-rate DSL (VDSL) and others, and respectively transmit and receive voice and data signals to and from the customer premises equipment. Connection between the customer premises equipment is usually accomplished through the backplane. However, in some instances, there are insufficient ports on the backplane for connecting the electronic circuit cards to the customer premises equipment. For example, in some applications, electronic circuit cards of adjacent slots are interconnected at the backplane by a cable so that nearly all of the ports at the backplane are in use.
One way of adding ports to the electronic circuit card is by locating a connector, such as a 50-pin telco connector, opposite the backplane at the front of the electronic circuit card. One method of connecting the connector to the electronic circuit card involves mounting the connector directly on the circuit board of electronic circuit card. However, when the connector is mounted on the circuit board it extends beyond a side of the faceplate. Consequently, a cutout is made in the faceplate that extends through the side of the faceplate to accommodate the connector. One problem with this is the cutout makes it difficult to seal the housing against EMI leakage because the cutout creates a gap between the faceplate and a faceplate of an adjacent electronic circuit card through which the EMI can leak.
Another problem is the connector extends into an adjacent slot of the housing so that the electronic circuit card occupies more than one slot of the housing. This reduces the number of cards that can fit into the housing and increases costs when renting space in a central office, for example. This also makes it difficult to remove or insert a circuit card in the adjacent slot, e.g., during maintenance or repair procedures or the like, because the connector extends into the adjacent slot.
In addition, when a mating connector is connected to the connector, it is difficult to secure the mating connector to the connector. Consequently, the mating connector can be disconnected from the connector, for example by a technician brushing against cabling attached to the mating connector.
For the reasons stated above, and for other reasons stated below that will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading and understanding the present specification, there is a need in the art for alternatives for adding ports to electronic circuit cards.
The above-mentioned problems with adding ports to electronic circuit cards and other problems are addressed by embodiments of the present invention and will be understood by reading and studying the following specification.
In one embodiment, an electronic circuit card is provided. The electronic circuit card includes a circuit board and a faceplate attached to the circuit board. A connector is mounted on the faceplate such that the electronic circuit card occupies substantially one slot of a housing when the electronic circuit card is contained in the housing. The connector is also mounted on the faceplate to enable contact between the faceplate and a faceplate of an adjacent electronic circuit card for shielding against electromagnetic interference leakage when the electronic circuit card is contained in the housing. A ribbon cable electrically interconnects the connector and the circuit board. A strap is attached to the faceplate. The strap is adapted to secure a mating connector to the connector.
Further embodiments of the invention include methods and apparatus of varying scope.